Alfred von Tirpitz (1849-1930), who joined the Prussian Navy in 1865 as a midshipman, was chiefly responsible for rapidly developing and enlarging the German Navy, especially the High Seas Fleet, from 1897 until the years immediately prior to the First World War. Epkenhans uses newly discovered documents to provide a fresh treatment of this important naval leader.
In 1897, Tirpitz became the Secretary of State of the Imperial Navy Department. In four major building acts of 1898, 1900, 1908, and 1912, and, in working closely with Kaiser Wilhelm II, Tirpitz expanded the Imperial...
Alfred von Tirpitz (1849-1930), who joined the Prussian Navy in 1865 as a midshipman, was chiefly responsible for rapidly developing and enlarging the...
It was through bitter experience growing up on the harsh and unforgiving steppes of Mongolia that Genghis Khan learned to trust few people and to be vigilant of the personalities and events around him. As a result of an early life filled with hardship, betrayals, and constant struggle, Genghis Khan developed into a cunning and effective leader of men in battle. He became an innovative commander who disdained customary tactics when those strategies failed to bring victory.Genghis Khan united the tribes of Mongolia in a way never before seen, leading them to the settled lands of Eurasia and...
It was through bitter experience growing up on the harsh and unforgiving steppes of Mongolia that Genghis Khan learned to trust few people and to be v...
Most students of the American Civil War know the name George Gordon Meade, but few can tell you about the man. With this addition to Potomac's Military Profiles series, historian Richard Sauers examines the life of one of the Union Army's most notable generals. Rising from the Union officer corps to lead the previously ill-fated Army of the Potomac, Meade took command only hours before his forces stumbled upon Robert E. Lee's Confederates at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1863. He led his men to victory in one of the most famous battles in history, but Meade was soon embroiled in political...
Most students of the American Civil War know the name George Gordon Meade, but few can tell you about the man. With this addition to Potomac's Militar...
Few figures in modern French history have aroused more controversy than Marshal Philippe Petain, who rose from obscurity to great fame in the First World War only to fall into infamy during the dark days of Nazi occupation in World War II. Petain's brilliant theories of firepower and flexible defense, as well as his deep empathy for the soldiers of France and the horrific trials they endured on a daily basis, mark him as one of the greatest Allied generals of World War I. Yet today he is best remembered as the nearly senile marshal who was handed the reins of power in France in the midst of...
Few figures in modern French history have aroused more controversy than Marshal Philippe Petain, who rose from obscurity to great fame in the First Wo...
Biographers and historians have lionized Heinz Guderian as the legendary father of the German armored force and brilliant practitioner of blitzkrieg maneuver warfare. As Russell A. Hart argues, Guderian created this legend with his own highly influential yet self-serving and distorted memoir, which remains one of the most widely read accounts of the Second World War. Unfortunately, too many of Guderian??'s biographers have accepted his view of his accomplishments at face value, without sufficient critical scrutiny, resulting in an undeserved hagiography.
Biographers and historians have lionized Heinz Guderian as the legendary father of the German armored force and brilliant practitioner of blitzkrie...
